Meow is Not a Cat by Tara Kelly is a about a little kid that doesn’t quite fit in, and is totally rocking it. My 5yo and I picked this one for its cute premise, and we really enjoyed the beginning. I loved the vivid, almost comic book like illustrations, and I especially loved the cat’s dry commentary on Meow’s antics. The cat’s expressions are just fantastic. However, the end didn’t totally work for me. I actually had to go back because I thought I had somehow missed a page or two.

Basically Meow ends up stealing bananas from a bunch of monkeys, the monkeys & other kids get angry, and then Meow sadly wonders if they should be like everyone else… then we immediately hit the last page where Meow is just like NOPE! And everyone is happy all the sudden. (I actually just went and read it again to make sure this is accurate.) I still feel like I’m missing something, so I ranked this one #6 out of the 6 NetGalley picture books we read today.

Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the free ARC!

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

My 5yo says he liked it, especially the dancing at the end, and he ranked it #3 of the 6 NetGalley picture books we read today.

Five-year-old rating:

🙂

Our side thumbs unite!

Thanks for reading!